Netanyahu ignores ceasefire call and orders army to fight Hezbollah with all its might

Jerusalem:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday his government had not responded to calls by the United States and its allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Israel's fight against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

“It is a US-French proposal to which the prime minister has not even responded,” said a statement from Netanyahu's office. He also ordered the army to “continue the fighting with all its might.”

The United States, the European Union and other allies, including several Arab states, have jointly called for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon this week killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.

The situation in Lebanon has become “unbearable” and “is not in the interest of anyone, neither the Israeli people nor the Lebanese people,” said a joint statement by US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and other allies.

“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire on the Lebanese-Israeli border to create space for diplomacy towards reaching a diplomatic solution.”

The statement was issued jointly with Western powers, Japan and the main Arab Gulf powers – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – at a meeting of heads of state and government on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The call for a three-week ceasefire came just hours after Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi on Wednesday urged soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah.

Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group hit back with rocket fire and said a ballistic missile had targeted Tel Aviv.

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